Was the Immaculate Reception Really the Best Ever?

The date was December 23rd, 1972. Let the scene begin.

In 1972, no team in football had a sorrier past than the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 39 years, they had managed just seven winning seasons and had been shut out in their one and only postseason game. During that same span, they had finished last a record 11 times and had the worst record in the league five times. However, that year, rookie fullback Franco Harris joined a young defensive squad led by “Mean Joe Greene, and the winds of change began blowing through Three Rivers Stadium. By seasons end the Steelers had an 11-3 record and were in the playoffs. There they met the heavily favored Oakland Raiders and a defense led by Jack “The Assassin” Tatum.

As the clock ticked down on the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff hopes, something spectacular would have to happen for the Steelers to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Soon something would happen that still is brought up in football conversations all over the world nearly 40 years later.

It was the final play of the season for Steelers’ quarterback Terry Bradshaw. With 22 seconds left in the 4th quarter, Oakland was ahead 7-6. Bradshaw, fourth down on his own 40 yard line, stepped out of the pocket and fired a bullet to John “Frenchy” Fuqua at midfield. Just as the ball arrived, Jack Tatum laid a thunderous hit on the Pittsburgh receiver, breaking up the play and sending the ball ricocheting harmlessly away…or so it seemed. Franco Harris, who was running at full speed toward Fuqua and Tatum, suddenly saw the ball floating in front of him. He plucked it out of the air just before it touched the ground and kept running 55 yards for the winning score and the most incredible ending that anyone could remember!

There was only one problem. The rules at the time stated that a pass bouncing off one offensive player to another offensive player was automatically incomplete. The question was, did Terry Bradshaw’s pass hit John Fuqua or the defender, Jack Tatum?

The officials conferred for what seemed like an eternity before the referee emerged from the huddle and thrust his arms into the air, the TOUCHDOWN COUNTED! It seemed Fuqua and Tatum touched the ball at exactly the same time, meaning Harris’ catch was clean. The Pittsburgh Steelers had won 13-7 and the “immaculate reception” become one for the books.

Experts still can’t agree whether the pass bounced off Fuqua or Tatum. Of all the videos and photos available, none reveal the truth. John Fuqua, the only man who really knew, claimed that the answer is in a sealed envelope that was only to be opened after his death. The “sealed envelope” has yet to be opened.